NYC89FA183 · Beech B24R
Beech B24R · Accident: loss of control in flight en route
From Wiscasset, ME to Martha's Vineyard Airport (MVY)
Narrative check · The NTSB narrative appears to contradict this record's departure or destination. Values are shown as recorded, not corrected; compare with the narrative.
Event
- NTSB case
- NYC89FA183
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 2 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- General aviation
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Instrument Meteorological Cond
Beech B24R
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft 24
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N2175W
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route Narrative disagrees
- From Wiscasset, METo Martha's Vineyard Airport (MVY), Beverly, MA
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 91: General Aviation
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- En route · climb to cruise
- First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Loss of control in flight
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Aircraft control, not maintained
- Pilot in command › Spatial disorientation
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Wiscasset, ME, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
THE AIRPLANE DEPARTED WISCASSET AIRPORT, MAINE, IN INSTRUMENT METEOROLOGICAL CONDITIONS, AND THE DESTINATION WAS BEVERLY, MASSACHUSETTS. THE PILOT CONTACTED THE APPROACH CONTROL, RECEIVED AN INSTRUMENT FLIGHT RULES CLEARANCE, AND BEGAN CLIMBING TO THE ASSIGNED ALTITUDE ON A WESTERLY HEADING. THE NEW BRUNSWICK APPROACH CONTROL RADAR SHOWED THAT THE AIRPLANE REACHED A MAXIMUM ALTITUDE OF 1700 FEET MSL, WHEN IT BEGAN TO DESCEND AND REVERSE ITS DIRECTION OF FLIGHT. THE RADAR LAST SHOWED THE AIRPLANE AT AN ALTITUDE OF 400 FEET MSL AND MOVING IN A SOUTHEASTERLY DIRECTION. THE AIRPLANE WRECKAGE WAS FOUND 1 MILE SOUTHWEST OF THE WISCASSET AIRPORT. THE RADIO COMMUNICATION WITH THE PILOT DID NOT INDICATE ANY DIFFICULTY.
Probable cause
THE PILOT'S LOSS OF CONTROL OF THE AIRPLANE AND UNCONTROLLED DESCENT DURING ATTEMPTED FLIGHT IN INSTRUMENT METEOROLOGICAL CONDITIONS.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record NYC89FA183
- Event ID
- 20001213X29222
- Case number
- NYC89FA183
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: ae15cc94ceda757c93e20dd926d8bffdf3fd842eec873755baa28ca09f59c266; retrieved 2026-09-21T03:12:26.481Z.